When I met my best friend, Marion, in college, she had never seen a single horror flick in her entire life.

I was the girl showing friends Pet Sematary in junior high, and was appalled she had shunned a genre so beloved to me.

So I made her a deal – watch Nightmare on Elm Street with me – my favorite horror film, and the best horror film ever, in my opinion – and if she wasn’t blown away by it, I would never force her to watch another horror movie again.

She consented after some debate, and we sat to watch it, me with overwhelming excitement at getting to share one of my favorite films with one of my favorite people, her with extreme trepidation for the upcoming first time experience.

Needless to say, Marion absolutely loved Nightmare on Elm Street – especially Heather Langenkamp’s number one badass Final Girl, Nancy, and her determination to live and beat big bad Freddy Krueger. A character who, when questioned why she is perusing a book on booby traps, obliquely quips “I’m into survival”.

And with that one line, Marion was sold.

She asked me if kick ass women besting the villain was a theme in horror, and I said yes. So, we could watch these films as a kind of training course in how to survive, she posited. And I said absolutely. The more movies we watched, the better chance we had at becoming the Final Girl.

And that’s how the two of us decided to spend our senior year of college watching every horror movie in the horror section of our local video store, Gold Star Video. We ended up watching over 200 films that year.

Not just watching, mind you, but keeping them all tracked and logged in our Horror Movie Notebook. We covered the notebook with our favorite horror movie images and filled it up with page after page of obsessive horror nerd rantings, creating our own rating system and noting down our favorite lines and moments in each movie.

And now, thanks to theIndiePopcornNetwork, Marion and I will be co-hosting a weekly podcast called Horror Movie Survival Guide – where we revisit our Horror Movie Notebook and re-watch the films from our senior year of college, covering a different film each episode.

I am so excited to dip back into the notebook, and talk about the films I love so dearly, and specifically what lessons each film teaches on survival.

You can listen to the first episode, “I’m Into Survival”, discussing Wes Craven’s 1984 masterpiece, Nightmare on Elm Street, at the link below.

You can also follow Horror Movie Survival Guide on Facebook,Twitterand Instagram, where we will be posting new episodes each week.

Give it a listen and send in your opinions – always happy to hear from fellow horror hounds!

Listen here:

So very excited to announce that I have been asked to program a summer series at the amazing Somerville Theater in Massachusetts – entirely on 35mm!

You can read about what I chose to program and why below:

“2017 heralds the 50th anniversary of 1967’s famed “Summer of Love”, where every hippie in America hightailed it to dear old San Fran to turn on, tune in and drop out. To stand up to the generation before them and say: “No. We don’t like your way. We are going to try something different.”

This counterculture lived in incredible, bold new ways in 1967 – communally, out front and with love for free, and with sincere hope for true equality.

They listened to incredible music – Sgt, Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Their Satanic Majesty’s Request were two of the dozens of mind blowing releases of that year.

They ingested incredible drugs – like Acapulco Gold and Owlsey’s outta site LSD.

But most importantly, the hippies were genuinely trying to do a truly incredible thing – to get the world to simply stop fighting and love one another.

Let’s say that again. Simply stop fighting and love one another.

In 1967 it was a radical idea to strive for, and sadly, now, in 2017 – 50 years later – it still is.

When Ian Judge very kindly asked me to curate some films this summer, he generously gave me absolute carte blanche on what I could program.

And I chose to program four films that will let you time travel back to 1967, and take a snapshot of the world of film that year.

We start with Roman Polanski in a carefree mood, having fun and slaying undead in THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS.

Next is one of my very favorite films, with all of the sex and drugs and heartlessness of show business on glorious, lurid display – VALLEY OF THE DOLLS.

Los Angeles counterculture gets exploited, and the grown ups get put in their place in RIOT ON SUNSET STRIP

And lastly, Godard puts his crazy, out of control stamp on the era in the under seen WEEKEND

I hope when you come to these films, you’ll put away your cell phone and mentally transport yourself back 50 years.

The 35mm projector will spin to life just as it did then, and when the images start dancing on the screen, pretend it really is 1967.

Let the films show you the people, the colors, the sound and the psychedelic sights of 1967. Let yourself be carried away by the counter culture, and let them whisper their battle cry in your ear:

Simply stop fighting and love one another.

Peace and love, Julia Marchese”

If you live in the Somerville area and would like to attend, you can buy tickets at the links below:

Thanks again to Ian Judge and all of the other cool cats at the Somerville for giving me this bitchin’ opportunity! Long live 35mm!

Since I was a little girl, I’ve only ever been interested in music from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. My favorite cassettes growing up were Ricky Nelson, Jan & Dean and The Monkees.

The first “modern” band I ever liked was Stray Cats – because they looked and sounded like they were from the 50’s.

In high school I only listened to the oldies station & I started my lifelong obsession with The Beatles. So, needless to say, I think of myself of having a pretty deep and wide knowledge of music from those decades.

Lately I’ve been listening to an internet radio station called Retro Attic Rare Oldies Radio, which plays little known and obscure songs from the 50’s-late 70’s. I’ve heard a lot of the songs before, but there are quite a few that are new to me. A lot of these are terrible, and I don’t really feel badly that I don’t know them.

But recently on the station I heard a song that I had never heard before that has been stuck in my head for weeks, and to me finding a new song that I like such a terrific delight.

Ariel is a one hit wonder (reaching #26 in the Billboard charts in 1977) from a singer named Dean Friedman. The song caught my attention because of the offbeat & quirky lyrics and I thought listening to his voice that it was Weird Al at first.

The song is a classic love song, but the lyrics are peculiar, honest and realistic, the tune catchy as fuck, and I find his voice & phrasing charming. Such great harmonies, fun bass line – sax solo! What’s not to like?

Is this song mind blowing? No.

But there is something about the song that just makes me feel happy. The cover of the album makes me happy too. Look how shaggy and forlorn he is! Love it.

So I thought I would share it with you.

Have you heard this song before?

If you haven’t, give it a listen and let me know what you think.

Are there any songs that you have found recently that make you happy?

Send them over!

I’m always open to finding new music – whether it be truly new, or just new to me.

And a thank you to Dean Friedman for writing a song 40 years ago that makes a girl here in 2017 happy.

2017 has started out quite auspiciously as I was able to attend two super cool cinephile events that I had never been to, back to back – Art House Convergence & Sundance!

Since I am currently looking for a new position AND looking for help in making my next film as well, these two cinema & film centered events were perfect places to schmooze and meet folks who share the same interests. I went in with a finished DVD copy of my first film – which was fantastic to have – and an openness to new adventures in cinema wherever they may be. I love film so much, as long as I am working with in it in someway, I’ll be happy, and I knew I would meet lots of folks that felt the same way.

First was the Art House Convergence, held in Midway, Utah Jan 16-19. I had heard about the Convergence when I was with the New Bev, but never got the chance to attend. When my friend Anna Feder(who programs the Bright Lights Series at Emerson, and who brought the 35mm print of Out of Print out to Boston in 2015) told me she had an extra bed in her hotel for theConvergence, I jumped at the chance to tag along. The opening night film was the incredible Nacho Vigalondo’s newest Colossal, which was super cool AND I got to karaoke White Lines by Grandmaster Flash while Anna rocked out Maneater by Hall and Oates.

I volunteered for the Convergence, which meant I “hosted” one of their conference rooms for two days of cinema related panels. I got to hear all sorts of diverse panels, from building your social media audience and fundraising for galas to – my favorite – the After Midnitepanel hosted by Mark Anastasio from the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, MA. A man of incredible style and taste and owner of the coolest pin collection ever – see below.

Mark talked about how seeing Holy Mountain at midnight blew his mind and made him want to focus on midnight programming – as a Jodorowsky fan myself, I totally related.

It was super cool to meet dedicated cinema owners and programmers from all over North America, and everyone I met was incredibly kind. I ran into my chum Jessie Maltin, and had the pleasure of having dinner with her and her lovely husband and amazing parents for two nights in a row. Chatting casually about 16mm film with Leonard Maltin was pretty damn rad.

The closing night party of the Art House Convergence was held at a resort that had an ICE CASTLE. I didn’t know these things existed, and it was absolutely magical. They played epic music and the castle changed colors and there were three ice slides. SO COOL.

I took the shuttle from the Art House Convergence on Jan 19 to Sundance in Park City, where I stayed through Jan 25. Again, friends came to the rescue when my BFF Teri Gamble offered to share her bed with me at the amazing condo she was staying at in Sundance, and another friend helped me in getting a super sweet badge for the festival. (I have wonderful friends!)

Being that I was staying in the Media Circus condo, I also got to be involved in two super duper rad events that became the highlight of my trip. The first was to get to sit in on an interview that Indie Film Hustle conducted with Spectrevision/Company X.

I’ve loved all of Spectrevision’s releases so far, and after attending the Spectrevision/Cinefamily produced staged reading of Joe Dante’s incredible script for the Roger Corman Biopic The Man With Kaleidoscope Eyes – which was AMAZING – I was so delighted to hear that they were going to produce the full film version. Joe Dante is obviously a genius as a director, but he is also one of the nicest people I have ever met, and I am so excited for him to finally get to tell one of his amazing Corman tales on screen!

The Indie Film Hustle interview was such fun, with Daniel Noah, Elijah Wood,Josh Waller & Lisa Whalen giggling and riffing each other, and Alex and Sebastian asking the right questions to get an honest and heartfelt answer. And I unexpectedly got a shout out in the middle of the interview, which was pretty rad. (Elijah is pointing to me off screen at 35:13 when he mentions the New Beverly – which I yelled back “They fired me!” which is why Josh is doing the finger across the throat and Elijah is saying “I Know, I know…Julia’s gonna kill me!” )

If I was merely interested in working with Company X before this interview, after it, I am completely determined. Their whole lookout on their jobs, on how they support their filmmakers and aren’t afraid to take chances, sounded like heaven to me. They are the producers every filmmaker dreams of meeting. So excited to see what they produce in the future.

As if that wasn’t enough awesomeness for one day, that night those crazy Media Circus folks threw a RAGING party at the condo, for the upcoming doc On the Sly: In Search of the Family Stone. I jumped right in and ended up being a bartender for the night, and it was the most fun bartending I have ever done. (And yes, I was suckered into paying for a bartending license when I first moved to LA).

Apparently, props must be given toTim League for inventing this game (and for just general radness), but it’s called Shot Roulette. A D20 is thrown three times, and each number corresponds to a bottle of some beverage. Three beverages are added to your shot, which you then shoot, and name.

I say beverage because it wasn’t all booze – although there was moonshine, whiskey and all sorts of flavored liquors – there was also fish sauce, clam juice and cream of mushroom soup. I must have poured hundreds of shots during that party, and about 75% of them were absolutely repulsive, but no one refused to drink theirs. It would be against the spirit of the game! So to your health to everyone I served that night, and well done on your sense of adventure! The game is complete genius, and turned the party into an absolute blast – it was so much fun to be in the middle of it all.

Many thanks to all of the fellows and ladies that I met during the Art House Convergence & Sundance – you were all so kind, and it was thanks to you that I had such an amazing time. It was so great to be back with cinema focused folks again, and talking about the future and its possibilities. I am so excited to go through the stack of business cards I got & get back in touch with you all – and am hopeful that one of these cards represents someone to help guide me to my next adventure – wherever that adventure may be.

And last but certainly not least, thank you to the folks at Go Fund Me, whose PR team helped me with press and who gave the final $250 to make sure this project succeeded.

THANK YOU.

I need to thank all of you.

Because of you, I was able to not only make my first film, but also have it distributed.

If you feel like you’ve been hearing about Out of Print forever – you kind of have. Can you believe that I launched my Kickstarter in 2012?

And it took four years to get to this point, the film being released on Amazon& Itunesas well as playing in independent cinemas on 35mm.

That’s how long it takes to make a movie – from soup to nuts, and the thing I have enjoyed most about this entire process is I have learned how to make and sell a film.

I raised the money, hired the crew, scheduled the interviews, rented the equipment, drew up the contracts, interviewed the cast, bought the lunches, paid the crew, sent out the Kickstarter incentives*, filmed in London, edited the film and got the color & sound done**, had selected folks watch a rough cut and give notes, got screeners made and sent out to film festivals, got the film digitized and made into a 35mm print (!!), premiered at the Sidewalk Film Festival and won the Programmer’s Award, personally toured with the film to several colleges and had wonderful Q&A’s with students, personally booked the film tour around the world, was featured on dozens of cool podcasts, was interviewed by dozens of awesome websites, was fired from the very establishment I had centered my film on, learned a hard fucking lesson about Hollywood, found a sales agent who took the film to the American Film Market, found a distributor who sold the film, and had the film premiere on VOD and be playing in independent cinemas on 35mm at the same time.

A hearty thanks to all of you who rode along with me.

Thank you all for all of your support and patience during these last four years. I am over the moon about the positive reviews Out of Print has gotten recently, and am so very thankful to all of you for making it happen.

That being said, it hasn’t all been rainbows and unicorns. Losing the New Bev broke my spirit hard core, and I’m still licking my wounds. I have a film that I now look at and wish it was different – I wish I hadn’t just focused on one theater, I see the repetition in the film, the lag in the middle and a thousand other little problems with it.

But I am proud of the film I made, and love the response that it has gotten. I’m glad that my honest passion for cinema & 35mm film shines through, and that it has gotten people to be curious about that small cinema near them, and what they are watching the movie on. That was always my goal with the film, and in that I think I have succeeded.

So what comes next?

Los Angeles has lost some of its sparkle.

I’m still looking for a job.

Am I going to make another film? I hope so.

I have a project I think would blow people’s minds.

And I have been hoping Out of Print will lead to the next film..but I don’t know. I haven’t been able to predict a thing correctly about this film yet, so let the chips fall where they may.

But I am still so passionate about cinema, and always will be. I don’t quite know what direction to turn in these days, but whichever way I go, I am sure there is film waiting for me at the end of the road.

*with the help of John Quinn, Daniel Owens and Jon Schell, respectively.

** If you donated to Out of Print’s Kickstarter and are owed a DVD, fear not! They will be arriving by Christmas…

So live streaming seems to be the new up and coming internet obsession, and I’m hopping aboard that sweet gravy train!

As many of you know, I have an ENORMOUS (color coded!) VHS collection (over 1,000).

Perhaps this is too many, I hear you say.

And you’re RIGHT.

Therefore, I am starting a project to watch every VHS on my shelves that I haven’t seen (or haven’t seen in a long time.)

If I don’t think I will ever watch it again, out it goes. YOU can have your say on what stays and what gets chucked!

I will give each movie 15 minutes and if it’s painful to watch, out it goes. If i’m digging it, I’ll watch the whole thing and perhaps it will regain it’s rightful place upon the wall… but that’s that chance you take, right?

Sound like fun?

Good! Join me as I stream my VHS adventures live, and chat with me about the film I am watching as I am watching it! (The future is NOW!)

Perhaps no one will join the stream, and I will end up watching the movies by myself – which I would be doing anyway – or perhaps I can watch it with a few other movie junkies from across the globe and we can all experience the film together in a whole new way!

The first live stream will start today at 4pm. It’s my very first one, ever, so please be kind and stick with me if things go awry…

I don’t know how regularly I will be doing this, but you can subscribe to my Channel, VHS Vixen, at the link below to receive an email when I am broadcasting.